At A Glance
Author	Lyndz
When	A week ago
Artist	Ryan
Studio	Lucky's
Location	Northampton, MA

Hi all,

Here is a little bit of background information about myself, in case any of you all are wondering...if not you can skip this paragraph all together to the not-so-gross details. I am originally from a small town a bit north of Boston, and definitely planning on going back after I have finished off my master's degree. I've always been into piercings and tattoos for as long as I can remember, but I am also a big fan of moderation because I do intend to be going out into the professional world in the next year. I've had the greatest parents and friends my whole life, who are so great and non judgmental. Granted, I am not the most pierced or tattooed person by far, but you would expect a nose stud to get flack in a small town, but that was not the case at all for me.

Onto my experience...

About 2 weeks ago, my boyfriend and I attended a Halloween party at his friend's place. I was talking to his friend's girlfriend and noticed that she had her rook pierced. This is a piercing that I had before, but when I had it done the experience was almost unbearably painful and for the life of me I could not get it to heal. It was probably my own fault for going to a body piercer in The Garage in Cambridge, which is not known for giving the best piercings, I had my navel done there and the piercer used the wrong size needle and had to get another and re-pierce it...needless to say that was not fun at all. (And yes, 5 years later, I am still bitter about it).

Anyways, I was very upset when I had to take my rook out (I even remember the day--it was Valentine's day 2001). I wanted to get it redone so badly but I was afraid that it would just reject again so I put that thought out of my mind and in the following couple years had 2 small tattoos done. My 2nd tattoo was done last October and this year I was starting to feel that itch to have something else done, a feeling I'm sure all of you who have piercings and/or tattoos know all too well. I knew tattoos definitely were not the way I wanted to go because I didn't want to clutter myself up too much and there is not really any other spot on my body where I would like to get one.

Seeing my friend with the rook piercing gave me the motivation to give it a 2nd go. I decided to go over to Lucky's in Northampton because I had been there to get a failed nose piercing redone and was very impressed with how clean and sterile everything was. I walked in and discussed with the piercer, Ryan, how I had gotten the piercing before and where I would like it placed and the problems I had before. He said that if I follow the aftercare better than I had before, he could see no reason why it would fail.

After I paid the cashier, we walked into the piercing room and I placed my bag on the floor because you are not allowed to place anything on the counters. He marked off where he thought the piercing should go and after I approved got the needle ready by bending it. I started to get a bit nervous because I was remembering just how bad the piercing had felt the last time I did it. I was also nervous because I was not familiar at all with Ryan, I had been to Penelope before to get my nose pierced, and her awesome technique was what drew me back for my rook. Ryan then told me to take a deep breath in and to exhale when he said. And like that it was over. The only pain I felt was from the clamp, which was more pinching and uncomfortable than really painful. Pulling the jewelry through did not hurt at all either, and that can often be the more painful part of the procedure. Ryan snapped a few shots of my rook for his portfolio, I tipped him and was on my way.

It's been about a week now and I've only had one throbbing/aching day which was two days ago. For the first few nights I could sleep on it, but now it's a bit too sore to sleep on. But I am definitely not complaining, it's already healing far better than the last time I had it done. The sea salt soaks work WONDERS for soreness too. When it's really sore I do the salt twice a day, with more dilute concentration of salt so I don't dry out my ear too much.

My only concern is that snowboarding season is approaching and I hope that my piercing will be healed enough so that I can wear my goggles and goofy head band thing. We shall see...I'm optimistic.

If anyone reading this is from the MA area and is willing to go out to Northampton, I would very strongly suggest that you go to Ryan or Penelope at Lucky's. I have never in my life met such nice and proficient piercers, and I've met a lot. They were truly the best out of New Hampshire, the Boston area and Western MA.

As far as my own nose and ear go, I do believe in the saying "first is the worse, second is the best." And my beautiful nose and rook piercings are the proof!